Mana Enhancing Modelling? Can Aotearoa shift from deficit thinking to mana enhancing outcomes thinking?

Lara Taylor is a descendant of Papatūānuku, and a māmā in her own right to two beautiful tamariki. She has more recent whakapapa to Ngāti Tahu, Te Arawa, Ngāti Pāhauwera, Ngāi Tahu ki Murihiku, and the Netherlands. Lara's career includes policy and planning for local and central government, and research for Manaaki Whenua Landcare Research. She has been running her own environmental consultancy for a year now, E Oho! Awakening Aotearoa. Lara is passionate about freshwater management in particular and an advocate for transformative and equitable approaches that are holistic, integrated and put Papatūānuku and our collective wellbeing first. In 2021, Lara led a publication, Ngā Puna Aroha: towards an indigenous-centred freshwater allocation framework for Aotearoa New Zealand, which proposed a new framework and model for tikanga-based water allocation. This aligned with Te Mana o te Wai, but shifted the focus from water quality alone to address the government's lack of attention to, and policy regarding, water quantity and allocation matters.